Trichster A documentary about the impulse control disorder Trichotillomania - page 2

Thank you so much to those of you who were able to attend our world premiere at the Soho International Film Festival! We had such an amazing time and are so excited to finally start showing the film. Trichster stars Valerie, Sophie, Jessie, and Greg were in attendance along with many of you that were also featured in the film. We met some amazing people who had traveled out of state to make it to the premiere and we’re so grateful for the support from the community.

All day, us filmmakers were texting each other: “I can’t concentrate at work!” “I’m so excited!” “I’m really nervous!” We met up before the screening for a celebratory glass of champagne and walked over to the theater together.

Gearing up for the premiere!

Once we got there, everything was a blur! The red carpet was crowded with people taking pictures. Attempting to pose for the camera was awkward, to say the least, but we made it through ok and into the theater on time. Our Director of Photography/Co-producer ‘Seun walked the carpet like a seasoned pro.

Seun Babalola rocking the red carpet

For years we’ve watched Trichster from camera monitors, laptop screens, and occasionally, the tv in our living rooms. Seeing Trichster on a giant theater screen was incredibly surreal. We were balls of nerves as we watched our “baby” being projected in front of 160 people. Would the audience like it? Did we do trichotillomania justice? At the end, the clapping lasted a long time and it was fun listening to the audience react when their names scrolled on screen. The Q&A went well and we spent the rest of the evening talking to people and absorbing awesome feedback.

Sophie (Trichster Star) answering questions at the Q&A

People had a lot of really nice things to say to us:

“Trichster is my new favorite movie!” -Avery

“The fact that you were able to shine a light on something that few people know about and open so many eyes to the disorder…I don’t know how to thank you for that.” -Stefanie

My favorite part of the documentary was “all of it, from beginning to end.” -Emma

Many of you have been asking when you can see Trichster. We’re still applying to festivals and hope to play at a theater near you soon! We’re still learning about distribution and working out the best plan for us. We want to hear from you! Tell us where you are! Fill out this form.

Last week we posted that Trichster would be participating in Big Vision Empty Wallet’s Distribution Lab 2015. Film distribution can be complicated so we wanted to provide you with a bit more insight into what that means, and more importantly how it will affect you, our loyal community.

Starting today, members of the Trichster creative team, joined by several other talented filmmakers, will take part in a week’s worth of meetings, seminars and roundtable discussions given by various distribution companies like Seed&Spark, VHX and Tugg. We’ll have an opportunity to talk to each of these companies, ask questions, learn how they work and what they offer, and perhaps more importantly, how their platform could work for us. The ultimate goal being, to walk away with a better idea of the distribution options out there and which models would be the best fit for Trichster and its audience.

We’re in a very interesting time in independent filmmaking. Particularly when it comes to distributing these films. There are so many more avenues and opportunities than ever before. Traditional distribution models – film shows at film festivals, film gets bought by studio, studio spends major marketing money and film is released in theaters, film goes to DVD/Netflix/TV – are expensive and traditionally only happen for a small percentage of independent films. Companies like Seed&Spark, Tugg, VHX and Gum Road, are making it easier for smaller independent films like ours to distribute their films directly to their audience through smaller-scale theatrical releases, online streaming and VOD (Video-On-Demand). This allows filmmakers with a more-direct and cost-effective way to get their film out to as many viewers as possible.

Which is why we are so excited to be a part of this lab. Not only are we looking forward to hearing about these various companies, but we’ll also have the equally unique opportunity to share this experience with other filmmakers, and learn about their plans and goals for their films.

Many of you have been asking “When and where can I see Trichster?!”, and while we don’t have a definite answer yet, we are a big step closer to that answer. And that’s really exciting! We’re still applying to festivals and hope to play at a theater near you soon. We want to hear from you! Tell us where you are! We really want to know where our supporters are located so that we can bring Trichster to you. Please fill out this form, and help us decide where to bring Trichster next.

In case you haven’t been following us very closely or are just checking Trichster out for the first time, we had an exciting journey to get to where we are today and the latest chapter is with our premiere at SoHo International Film Festival – affectionately shortened to SoHo6. When we heard we were accepted to SoHo6 our team was over the moon. We all did the first of many happy dances in this story. (you know how fond we are of happy dances) We have always talked about how great it would be to have our first public screening in New York City.

Trichster began in New York, was mostly shot in New York and New Jersey and finished its post in New York – so we couldn’t think of a better place to have our World Premiere than at the SoHo International Film Festival.

But after we got accepted, what happened next is every filmmaker’s dream. Not long after tickets sales for our screening were open to the public the screening sold out! SOLD OUT! We filled a theater with people who wanted to see our film a MONTH before the screening is going to happen. Cue second happy dance!

We’ve always said our goal is to get as many people to see Trichster as possible to raise awareness for trichotillomania so to have something like a sold out premiere is fantastic.

BUT WAIT! There’s more! Our friends at SoHo6 saw that we sold out so far in advance and responded to the demand for more seats. That’s right! They were able to arrange a SECOND SCREENING for us during their festival. I think you know what’s coming next: happy dance numero tres!

We are so grateful to the support of everyone who’s helped us make this film, from friends and family to crowdfunders to crew to all the amazing people in the film and now to SoHo. With your help Trichster has come so far! We’re looking forward to sharing the film with the world and our premiere is a big, big start!

So stay tuned for more fun stories, photos and updates from the festival and, of course, many more happy dances ahead!

As some of you may have seen, the Trichster team has just started applying to film festivals. As first time feature filmmakers, we’re learning that this process is not nearly as easy as it seems. Firstly, there are thousands of festivals across the world. Thousands! We’ve been spending hours going through them and trying to decide if Trichster would be a good fit and if the festival is worth the application cost. Which leads us to another thing: festivals are very expensive. Each application costs roughly between $30 and $100 dollars and that adds up quickly. There are deadlines every week and it seems that no two festivals want their screener DVDs delivered in the same way so we’re having to be very careful to read the fine print for each individual festival to make sure we’re correctly delivering all the materials they need! In addition to the hard work, festivals will not accept films that are available for online streaming.

DVDs galore!

At this point I expect some of you are thinking, “well, Jillian, if festivals are so time consuming and expensive, why do you even need to apply? Why not just release the film online as soon as it’s done?” Great question! I understand completely why you would ask that.

The answer is that film festivals still remain one of the best ways to build an audience for an independent film. Without film festivals, independent films like ours might remain forever in obscurity. At film festivals, our film will be shown in a theater setting as we’d always hoped it would: on a big screen with an awesome sound system. The feeling of watching a film in a room with an audience is simply magic. It’s an experience which is quite different from streaming a film on your laptop. Film festivals give new talent an opportunity to shine. It’s a place where audiences and filmmakers can meet in person and interact with each other. It’s a place to build buzz around the film, grow audiences, and, possibly, find distribution.Trichster will be able to reach audiences who otherwise wouldn’t have heard of Trichster or been able to see it. Screening at film festivals ultimately helps us raise awareness about trichotillomania.

So we hope to see some of you out there during the festival circuit! Believe me, we cannot WAIT for you all to see this film. We’ve put our blood, sweat, and tears into it (literally) and we couldn’t have even come close to where we are without your help. When we started making this film, it wasn’t about making money, building a name for ourselves, or even trying to win awards with our film. It’s always been about getting the film in front of as many eyes as possible. It’s about raising awareness for trichotillomania. Let’s open the eyes of those who aren’t aware of it by showing them that it exists. Let’s help people feel less alone. That’s what is really at the heart of this film, and I’m so excited to take a step in that direction, starting with the first stop on the festival circuit.

Producer Carolyn checking things over

So stay tuned! Hopefully we’ll be showing in a festival near you. As soon as we know where and when our world premier and other festival screenings are, we’ll be posting like crazy and trying to get everyone to come out and support us. It’s going to be an incredibly exciting year!

Hey everyone! It’s ‘Seun here, director of photography and co-producer, of Trichster. I have some great news for everyone who has been so supportive of this film with your questions, comments, follows, and likes:

We’re finally picture-locked!

For those of you reading that last sentence with a cocked head or raised eyebrow, let me explain what a picture-lock is. A picture-lock is the stage in editing a film where all of the cuts have been done and approved. It’s the stage right before it gets finalized with sound and all of those beautiful graphics you usually see in films. The story we’ve molded is the story we’re ready to tell the world, and it’s so close to being signed, sealed, and delivered to your screens.

We’ve been editing this film since April of last year, and the Trichster team has probably watched 383,729** versions before we agreed that this picture-locked version is the version we’d like you all to see. We’ve had about 400+ hours of footage and managed to get it down to 70 minutes of real, heartfelt narratives that mean a lot to us, and hopefully, to you.

The Trichster team is working very hard to get this film to you guys. On behalf of all of us, thank you again for your support and continued help in spreading our news far and wide.

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About Trichster

The documentary follows the lives of seven trichsters over the course of a year and details their daily struggles with Trichotillomania. What is it like to have trich? How often do people pull out their hair? Why do they do it? How does it affect their friends and loved ones?

We are on a quest to discover how we can make a difference in the trich community by raising awareness, generating interest, and ultimately, allowing those who are silently suffering to come forward and seek help.